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02 March 2011

Sandals, $4.99
Salvos, Diamond Creek

I bought these sandals for my six-year-old and to my surprise she actually loved them. But after just one wear a strap came loose, the glue holding the lining in place having become brittle with age. I told her I would take them to a shoe man to get fixed, and upon hearing this my eight-year-old piped up, “You mean a cobbler.” I stood corrected, and it occurred to me that the only people for whom the word cobbler trips off the tongue are the very old, who came of age in a world where having things mended rather than cheaply replaced was a fact of life; and the very young, who are still immersed in their fairytale world.